I’m displaying very minimalist (so unlike me) xmas decorations this year in the rental. I have these two ceramic trees that my mom hand-painted which survived the fire, but I’m already looking forward to decorating my home when I’m back for xmas 2025. A surprising amount of my holiday decorations survived the fire since the garage was relatively untouched, but I don’t even feel like transporting them over here.
Compilation of the videos of other folks who attended:
This was very much worth flying back from Hawaii a little earlier! Shea and I took the redeye on Friday night and after a very brief rest I headed over. Shea joined me later. I wasn’t about to do something without my dogs, so I had them the entire time, even though Bonnie was her cranky self and startled a few folks. Fortunately, she’s harmless (but loud). Snoopy, on the other hand, was such a good ambassador, that he even was held by a stranger for her photos since she missed her late dog.
As you can see, once again we had families with kids, dogs, and without sitting with Santa and Mrs. Claus (Tom and Julie).
Thank you to Bill, America, Ted, Shea, and Sara for your contributions to these photos!
Had a wonderful Friendsgiving with the LGBTQIA Network in Benicia today with amazing food and great company!
Halloween night Snoopy and Bonnie joined me at Children’s Wonderland Park in Vallejo for a huge GVRD event. We were there representing Humane Society of the North Bay (where I’m on the board and from where I adopted Bonnie). It was very well attended. I was skeptical when they said 2,600 people showed up last year, but at least that many were present this time.
We had a slightly early Halloween party on Mare Island with friends from the Humane Society of the North Bay, so Ernie and Bert (which I accidentally called Bernie and Ert at one point) made another appearance.
Halloween costumes! Who was the genius who came up with this idea? Imagine a small tuft of hair at the top of my pointed yellow head. In hindsight, Shea should have had a rubber ducky. I couldn’t convince him to put on a red muppet nose (it would mess up his products I suspect), so I decided to forego an orange one.
Post-party stop at local gay bar:
Went to Fairfield to hang out with friends Gerry, DJ, Joshua and David. We watched fireworks in Vacaville, Martinez, Pittsburg (Shea’s hometown) and downtown Fairfield from a relatively quiet (but windy) hillside with the dogs. When David said “Happy Birthday America” I said “Let’s hope it’s not your last.” Bonnie is near David’s head as he leans back and Snoopy was shaking a little so I held him the entire time. You can sort of see him in the picture with Shea and me.
We informally raced the other whaleboat team in choppy waters off the Carquinez Strait.
